The Moscow Cluster Office, in application of the Organization’s policy of decentralization, ensures UNESCO’s physical and programmatic presence in the cluster countries it was created to serve: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Republic of Moldova and Russian Federation. To maximize its effectiveness, it works closely not only with the cluster countries’ five National Commissions but also, through the coordinating mechanism managed by the United Nations Resident Coordinator, with the various UN Specialized Agencies having offices in the sub-region as well as with other locally represented private sector partners and civil societies.

By promoting national capacity-building and international cooperation, the Moscow Office serves both as a laboratory for the empirical testing of ideas as well as a clearing house for the dissemination of information about all aspects of UNESCO’s work in its fields of competence, namely education, natural sciences, culture, social and human sciences, information and communication. The Moscow Office seeks, inter alia, to improve the management of operational programmes in the cluster countries by placing greater emphasis on results-oriented activities and, together with its partners, to achieve greater coherence in the planning and programming of the work of the UN agencies.